Western Union, one of the preeminent money-sharing platforms, is updating its business model with a strategic investment in mobile payments, signaling a step towards a more modern approach to money-sharing and payments.

The move comes in the form of an investment into mobile payment platform Walletron. Western Union is aiming to bring its trusted money-sharing services to the world of smartphones.

“Western Union is driving mobile as our priority customer engagement channel across our money transfer and payments business. said Khalid Fellahi, senior vice president and general manager at Western Union Digital.

Mobile money
Before mobile had infused itself into every aspect of our lives, wire transfers were the fastest and most reliable way of sharing money between consumers.

Unfortunately, wire transfers are not a good replacement for Venmo when sharing a dinner bill. For that reason, wire transfers have mostly been sidelined with the rise of digital money-sharing applications such as PayPal and its subsidiary, Venmo.

Other systems have risen up as well, such as Square Cash and the ones provided by various banks.

Not wanting to be left behind, Western Union is attempting to play catch up with these digital giants and is doing so by investing in a mobile payment and money-sharing service called Walletron.

Western Union already has its own electronic payment sharing service called Speedpay, but the investment in Walletron comes with a partnership that will allow Speedpay to operate with some key features form Walletron’s moBills technology.

These features include custom notifications, bill payments and a streamlined, mobile experience.

The partnership will allow Western Union customers and Speedpay users to easily send money to their friends through a smartphone.

Digital payments
In addition to mobile payments, money-sharing has become a lucrative and popular business for all sorts of businesses both within and without the financial services industry.

For example, the mobile messaging app Viber recently began working with Comtrade to integrate a full-service financial platform into the messaging app (see story). With this feature in place, Viber users are able to make payments and share money with their friends all within the messaging service.

PayPal has also begun to expand its money-sharing and financial service offerings on mobile with the release of a new app focused specifically on business owners (see story). PayPal Business makes the mobile device a hub for all of a small business’ financial decisions, letting them issue refunds and review order information all in one place.

Clearly, mobile is the place for companies to be if they are interested in capturing a portion of the money-sharing audience.

The days of wire transfer are behind us and when most consumers have a computer in their pockets at all times, wherever they go, smart brands are making use of mobile for all of their on-demand financial offerings.

“Our association with Walletron reinforces this direction, which forms part of our overall omni-channel strategy,” Mr. Fellahi said.